Lethbridge, Alberta, May 19, 2015 - BlackBridge Networks and
Cybera have made a new tool available that gives researchers easy access to
Landsat 8satellite imagery. The imagery download service will benefit Canadian not-for-profit organizations that use geospatial information, including academic institutions, public groups, and research networks.

Thousands of Landsat 8 Level 1T terrain-corrected, multi-spectral images are immediately available for selected regions of Canada, the United States, Brazil, Australia, and Western Europe. The catalogue of Landsat 8 imagery can be accessed via BlackBridge’s self-service Representational State Transfer Application Programming Interface (REST API). This tool was built to easily discover and access large satellite imagery catalogues, and relies on Canada's high-speed, unmetered research and education network infrastructure provided by Cybera and its national network partner,
CANARIE. This powerful digital infrastructure connects 100 similar advanced networks internationally, and supports major international innovation projects.

“It takes a lot of resources to accurately study and map Canada’s landscape, and geospatial researchers often devote hours to finding the exact satellite picture that they need to inform their work. The tools and understanding that they will now have access to through the Landsat 8 satellite imagery service will be invaluable for those working in environmental monitoring, resource discovery, and industrial engineering,” says Robin Winsor, President and CEO of Cybera. “We’re pleased to support this project by making it available over Canada’s high-speed research and education network, which will give researchers instant access to these large data files.”

BlackBridge provides end-to-end solutions across the geospatial value chain. These include satellite operations, ground station services, and worldwide satellite imagery distribution through over 100 BlackBridge partners, combined with the creation of value-added products and geo-service solutions. For more information on BlackBridge, please visit
www.blackbridge.com.

About Cybera

Cybera is a not-for-profit technology-neutral organization responsible for accelerating technology adoption in Alberta. Its core role is to oversee the development and operations of Alberta’s cyberinfrastructure — the advanced system of networks and computers that keeps government, educational institutions, not-for-profits, business incubators and entrepreneurs at the forefront of technological change.